Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 12:41 pmPosts: 14038Location: From some place in this area...

Jose Mujica: The world's 'poorest' president

It's a common grumble that politicians' lifestyles are far removed from those of their electorate. Not so in Uruguay. Meet the president - who lives on a ramshackle farm and gives away most of his pay.

Laundry is strung outside the house. The water comes from a well in a yard, overgrown with weeds. Only two police officers and Manuela, a three-legged dog, keep watch outside.

This is the residence of the president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, whose lifestyle clearly differs sharply from that of most other world leaders.

President Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife's farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo.

The president and his wife work the land themselves, growing flowers.

This austere lifestyle - and the fact that Mujica donates about 90% of his monthly salary, equivalent to $12,000 (£7,500), to charity - has led him to be labelled the poorest president in the world.

"I've lived like this most of my life," he says, sitting on an old chair in his garden, using a cushion favoured by Manuela the dog.

"I can live well with what I have."

His charitable donations - which benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs - mean his salary is roughly in line with the average Uruguayan income of $775 (£485) a month.

In 2010, his annual personal wealth declaration - mandatory for officials in Uruguay - was $1,800 (£1,100), the value of his 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.

This year, he added half of his wife's assets - land, tractors and a house - reaching $215,000 (£135,000).

That's still only about two-thirds of Vice-President Danilo Astori's declared wealth, and a third of the figure declared by Mujica's predecessor as president, Tabare Vasquez.

Elected in 2009, Mujica spent the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Uruguayan guerrilla Tupamaros, a leftist armed group inspired by the Cuban revolution.

He was shot six times and spent 14 years in jail. Most of his detention was spent in harsh conditions and isolation, until he was freed in 1985 when Uruguay returned to democracy.

Those years in jail, Mujica says, helped shape his outlook on life.

"I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more," he says.

"This is a matter of freedom. If you don't have many possessions then you don't need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself," he says.

"I may appear to be an eccentric old man... But this is a free choice."

The Uruguayan leader made a similar point when he addressed the Rio+20 summit in June this year: "We've been talking all afternoon about sustainable development. To get the masses out of poverty.

"But what are we thinking? Do we want the model of development and consumption of the rich countries? I ask you now: what would happen to this planet if Indians would have the same proportion of cars per household than Germans? How much oxygen would we have left?

"Does this planet have enough resources so seven or eight billion can have the same level of consumption and waste that today is seen in rich societies? It is this level of hyper-consumption that is harming our planet."

Mujica accuses most world leaders of having a "blind obsession to achieve growth with consumption, as if the contrary would mean the end of the world".

But however large the gulf between the vegetarian Mujica and these other leaders, he is no more immune than they are to the ups and downs of political life.

"Many sympathise with President Mujica because of how he lives. But this does not stop him for being criticised for how the government is doing," says Ignacio Zuasnabar, a Uruguayan pollster.

The Uruguayan opposition says the country's recent economic prosperity has not resulted in better public services in health and education, and for the first time since Mujica's election in 2009 his popularity has fallen below 50%.

This year he has also been under fire because of two controversial moves. Uruguay's Congress recently passed a bill which legalised abortions for pregnancies up to 12 weeks. Unlike his predecessor, Mujica did not veto it.

"Consumption of cannabis is not the most worrying thing, drug-dealing is the real problem," he says.

However, he doesn't have to worry too much about his popularity rating - Uruguayan law means he is not allowed to seek re-election in 2014. Also, at 77, he is likely to retire from politics altogether before long.

When he does, he will be eligible for a state pension - and unlike some other former presidents, he may not find the drop in income too hard to get used to.

Not back too much, but I had a few comments for the re-elections of the banking-military-industrial-complex-pricks....I may have a few more...

Hope all's been well with you and yours.

And since we're in the breaking news thread, a few comments today...

First, although I'm usually harping on the Democrat and Republican bombing, I'll alter that this time...

I'd say it's game over.

If you don't live in a place with a garden and a well, get yourself one or make sure you have access to one of your friends or families. One should be doing much of this anyways as one can't count on retirement savings, or Medicare (nor Obamacare), but get yourself enough cans of food to get you through the next growing season, or more, (cannd foods can actually last years).

Get yourself something along the lines of a handgun, a shotgun, and a long rifle for something accurate. Anything registered handguns will likely be taken away from you so there are some things to keep in mind there. Make sure you can live on what you got, with limited electricity or solar.

You may want to team up with some like minded friends who see what's happening, but maybe not a good idea to sign up with any traceable groups.

Like minded friends can bring resources (hunting, gardening, medical skills), and alternate locations, and you all can find alternate locations, even abandonded buildings if need be and you might want to have some blankets and a few days of food in the car.

We did not beat the rich and powerful, they beat us.

The piggy banks negative and our rights have already been revolked, (such as the old right to council and a trial, and even to be charged when arrested, while we can all be searched without cause in many ways). Our president has already taken to killing americans without a trial.

In about 2001 (before the bubbles burst), I had the strategy of trying to get good people into office, but the control of the TV on the general consensus is too strong. Even though the bubbles hadn't yet burst, I figured the additional whammys of continued outsourcing with no end in sight, coupled with aging baby boomer retirement would overload the system past the point of return after the peak of baby boomer retirement around 2012. We elected the rich and powerful in again 2008 when it was possible to return, but falling for hook line and sinker for the asswipes again in 2012 I fear has sealed our fate. I figure the odds be 50/50.

America is already a different place. We've lost our fundamental rights. We have massive debt and continued outsourcing through NAFTA and the WTO.

I hear there is a UN agreement that Ofuckhead wants that is due to be voted on in Congress in March I hear will cause the supreme law of the land to disarm us...so kiss the 2nd amendment good-bye as well.

Drones are already coming to a sky near you, and thousands more for the police state are already on order.

It's time to take your own steps for self protection and self sufficiency...make sure you can have food, water and shelter on your own. If the shit hit da fan and you're not ready, you will be in deep do-do.

_________________Lesser-evilism is war.

Last edited by baddy on Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

So when none of this happens will you admit you're just a paranoid loon, like the people that have been saying this shit for centuries? I'll bookmark this page for future reference.

Would you rather be prepared and have it not happen, or be unprepared in the case that it does...which is the smarter choice..

BTW...I don't recall disrespecting you as you just did me above. Who does that make look bad, you or me?

Well, you called most people on this forum child killers, and I think I'm a member of this forum. So really, I don't know what respect means to you. And no, I'm not going to get ready for something that won't happen.

_________________One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.

Last edited by calvin2hikers on Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

So when none of this happens will you admit you're just a paranoid loon, like the people that have been saying this shit for centuries? I'll bookmark this page for future reference.

Would you rather be prepared and have it not happen, or be unprepared in the case that it does...which is the smarter choice..

BTW...I don't recall disrespecting you as you just did me above. Who does that make look bad, you or me?

I would not live in that world and neither does anyone else other than the preppers who have romanticized it and think there is some level of dignity that can be achieved in some post apocalyptic society...the hint, there is none.

Most people will not survive the first winter after the loss of infrastructure and the wondering hordes of criminals will absorb the rest, it will take a generation of death to get a restart and that’s if there isn’t a nuclear event.

Spend your money having fun and doing fun things, this is the best society man has ever achieved, if you think its going to end enjoy it well it last

Depending on how bad it gets, and how it happens, most folks will go to government camps when they get too hungry. The idea that the ordinary person is going to shoot and kill anyone arriving to steal their horde is ridiculous. Anyone with a large horde will be visited by the military or police surrogates, who will take the goodies for the common good, presumably...

The whole idea that canned goods and guns will allow "survivalists" to survive is patently false. If a majority of the people survive whatever catastrophe befalls us, survivalists will be overrun quickly, and they will go to whatever refugee camp is available, out of sheer hunger. They will also give up their guns for food, and their ass, too, if requested.

The only scenario where the survivalist ideal works is a scenario where the survivalist survives whatever initial blow that come about which kill almost everyone else. This would be the nuclear war/super volcano/massive deadly epidemic scenario. In this case, the survivalist would have to be located in a fairly remote place before the shit hits the fan. So, if you are in Cleveland when the Big Red Button is pushed, kiss your butt goodbye and say hi to Jesus for me.

Y'know Baddy, I guess that's harsh, I apologize. I think it might be leftover anger from debating Facebook idiots, who will probably be killed first in your scenario (which I still don't think will happen).

_________________One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.

Y'know Baddy, I guess that's harsh, I apologize. I think it might be leftover anger from debating Facebook idiots, who will probably be killed first in your scenario (which I still don't think will happen).

No problem mon, and I figure the odds be fifty-fifty.

One of three triggers:

1. Another unforseen event such as 9/11. We might not come back this time. We were stronger in 2001, we had only recently outsorced manufacturing, the housing / banking bubbles had not yet burst, and we had a lot more baby boomers.

Something that jolts the market with uncertainty, sending it to 5800 again... We might not come back this time.

2. Depending on an unsustainable strategy. The triple whammy of going another 1.4 trillion dollars every year in debt, diluting our money supply by printing $40 billion dollars a month, while we simutaneaously sent our manufacturing base to cheap labor abroad.

3. In that we now can be searched, arrested ,and held indefinately without charges or access to due process, and even executed without any of the above if we are suspected terrorist or associated with a suspected terrorist, then I would have to say we are moving towards a police state. Since we are taking on these properties, vastly different from the ones the framers wrote for us, then is it a leap od logic to follow these things to their conclusion?

And I think # 3 can happen on it's own, or # 1 or 2 above could provide an opportunity for number 3 to be imposed.

The idea that the ordinary person is going to shoot and kill anyone arriving to steal their horde is ridiculous. Anyone with a large horde will be visited by the military or police surrogates, who will take the goodies for the common good, presumably..."

I think the most likely scenario if there is collapse is something like Russia is today, (where collapse happened), electricity is a problem, heat and hot water are an issue, you can't drink the water out of the tap without sterelizing it first. People are more self sufficient, (and running out of food for a day or two is not news, you wouldn't tell/expect any from your friend). Skills such as canning are going to become more valuable.

1 in 5 kids today in my town is food insecure.

Although everybody lives in a shoe box, a garden plot is provided most Russians, I think it used to be guaranteed in Soviet Time, but now they can be sold since privitization, (my friend in Moscow just sold hers). Anyway, many I know disappear during the summer, off planting potatos and carrots at their summer plot. Shouldn't underestimate the power of a garden...it will sustain you without store bought cans.

Arm ourselves and live in the hills! Nah, I'll stay home and watch tv. That's much less crazy.

Baddy, you seem to have gone from promoting everyone's duty to fight the machine, to chucking it and running away. Those two positions are very far apart. Why give up if you believe in it? Unless, of course, you didn't believe in it in the first place, which is quite plausible, I think.

The system has evolved to resist change from within. Working within the system to change the system is the same as running around in circles hitting yourself in the head with a hammer.

Small groups of people can change small things, here and there. Entire governments can be brought down by popular protests. But, the essential infrastructure is still there...and in many cases this boils down to military power.

The system cannot be majorly changed by voting, because the vote is rigged between two parties that are essentially the same, and the system cannot be brought down by force because the armies and police forces are too vast. The military, and the financiers that ultimately control it, have the real power, and in a chaotic push to shove, the commanders with weapons at hand rule all.

We might as well all take a couple *SPAM* and wash it down with a big glass of Kool-Aid.

Arm ourselves and live in the hills! Nah, I'll stay home and watch tv. That's much less crazy.

From my own experience, I'm trying to buy a place out of foreclosure about 5 miles out of town, (and it's not hilly there). It's set back with a long driveway and it has a large garden. It does have a TV too (:

Ronald Noomies wrote:

Baddy, you seem to have gone from promoting everyone's duty to fight the machine, to chucking it and running away. Those two positions are very far apart. Why give up if you believe in it? Unless, of course, you didn't believe in it in the first place, which is quite plausible, I think.

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